Human rights lawyer and candidate for mayor, Maya Wiley was back in The Bronx on Tuesday, June 8, for a visit to Montefiore Medical Center, where she held a press conference to announce details of her plan for universal health coverage in the City. She was joined by members of 1199 SEIU and New York State Nurses Association. Wiley said the plan would transform health coverage in New York City and extend care to hundreds of thousands of residents, including the undocumented.

 

About 600,000 New Yorkers are uninsured according to Wiley, and half of those are undocumented. Meanwhile, a 2018 NYC Department of Health report (pre-pandemic) found that 12 percent of Bronx adults did not have health insurance, while 12 percent of adults in the borough reported going without needed medical care during the previous 12 months. In Bronx Community District 7 (CB7), the same report found that the percentage of uninsured adults in the district was 16 percent, while 11 percent of CD7 adults reported going without needed medical care in the previous 12 months.

 

Wiley says 350,000 New Yorkers are ineligible for Medicaid, Obamacare or other publicly supported insurance programs. Her team assumes 70 percent of this number (246,000 New Yorkers) will likely opt into her healthcare program and therefore, it is based on this number that the plan’s cost has been estimated.

 

“Maya will create a Health Insurance Plan for these 246,000 New Yorkers at an estimated cost of $1.04 billion,” the plan reads. “We can pay for this by using State and federal funds which currently pay for seriously ill, undocumented, uninsured New Yorkers, by collecting affordable, sliding-scale premiums, and by repurposing other City and State funding. The program would be organized and managed by a non-profit entity and operations would be contracted out to an insurer.”

 

Politico reports that Wiley’s healthcare plan would dismantle a signature 2019 program created by her former boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio. “While the de Blasio administration looked to provide free care to people, it was based largely on services the public hospital system already provided,” Politico wrote. “Wiley’s plan aims to get more than a third of the city’s 600,000 uninsured residents covered with traditional insurance policies.”

 

According to the same 2018 DOH report, avoidable hospitalizations are those that could be prevented if adults had access to quality primary care. In Bronx CD7, the 2018 report found that the rate of avoidable hospitalizations among adults was more than double the citywide rate, at 2,099 out of every 100,000 adults, versus the city’s rate of 1,033 out of every 100,000 adults.

 

In terms of fall-related hospitalization rates, CD7’s rate, in 2018, among adults aged 65 and older, at 1,802 per 100,000, was higher than the citywide average rate of 1,604 per 100,000. Meanwhile, in terms of obesity, diabetes and hypertension, Bronx CB7’s average rates in 2018 were 33 percent, 19 percent and 35 percent respectively, versus the citywide averages of 24 percent, 11 percent and 28 percent.

 

Norwood News reported on other health-related matters in The Bronx as part of our Bronx Connections series last year, together with WFUV and BronxNet.

 

Meanwhile, Wiley’s campaign is gathering momentum in the borough, having picked up the endorsement of local assemblywoman for the 80th A.D., Nathalia Fernández, last month, among others. Wiley and Fernández, who is running for the Bronx borough presidency delivered cross endorsements of each other on the steps of Borough Hall on May 12. On Saturday, June 5, as reported by Norwood News, Wiley received another Bronx endorsement in the form of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and her Courage to Change PAC, a campaign which backs progressive Democratic candidates across the country.

 

Since then, Wiley’s poll numbers have surged, placing her in second place behind Eric Adams, with many news outlets reporting that with ranked-choice voting, she can outperform many of the more centrist candidates in the race. There is concern, however, that recent reports that Wiley pays for private security while simultaneously calling for a $1 billion NYPD budget reduction could hurt her chances of winning. In the third televised mayoral debate, held June 10, Wiley refused to be drawn on whether she would disarm police officers, if elected mayor.

Fernández has credited Wiley for what she described as the lawyer’s life work, fighting for people who didn’t get what they deserved, combating racism, as well as her “fearless” confrontation of inequality as the deciding factors ahead of making her mayoral endorsement.

 

“The Bronx needs a partner, someone who will make the borough a priority, someone who understands our hardships and has a plan to ease our everyday struggles, who knows that to fully recover from the pandemic, we need to work together to make tough decisions. Maya Wiley is that person,” said Fernández.

 

“Maya gets it. Like me, she knows Bronxites have been hit hard this past year and are struggling to find work, pay rent and escape an uptick in gun violence,” the assemblywoman added. “It is time for strong female leadership that can bring us into the next chapter of history. Maya has the bold, innovative ideas we need to prosper. Together, I believe Maya and I will get it done.”

 

For her part, Wiley, who has also received the backing of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, among others, described what she said were the assemblywoman’s fierce progressive values and leadership on environmental justice, public health and safety, as well as her plan to bring economic stability to the borough. “I am so honored to have Assembly Member Nathalia Fernández’s support, and I am excited to endorse her for Bronx borough president,” she said.

 

Wiley said Fernández has fought in Albany against environmental racism, prioritized gun violence prevention, and has held police accountable through the Andrew Kearse Act. “Nathalia and I share a commitment to social justice – to uplifting Black and brown communities that are so often overlooked – and I look forward to partnering with her to build an equitable recovery for all Bronxites,” she said.

The endorsement event can be watched here. The cross-endorsement came after Wiley joined Fernández for a walk-through of the Arthur Avenue business corridor of the Bronx on April 23, and before another tour of the Jerome Avenue business corridor in Norwood on May 17, together with District 11 City Councilman Eric Dinowitz. The group was accompanied by Jennifer Tausig, executive director of Mosholu Preservation Corporation and the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District.

 

Both Wiley and Fernández have the potential to make history if they win their respective races. If elected Bronx borough president, Fernández would be the first woman to be elected to the position and the first Latina elected to borough-wide office in New York City history. If elected New York City mayor, Wiley would be the first woman to serve in the role.